The invention relates to trombone cases, and more particularly to a compact trombone case that enables a trombonist to carry the trombone components needed to enable him to play either a "single" B-flat trombone or a trombone with F attachment in a unitary case that is not substantially larger than many studio cases designed for only one trombone.
By way of background, professional trombone players often need to play two different "types" of tenor trombones. The first type of trombone includes a slide section and a "single" B-flat bell section. The second type of trombone includes an identical slide section and a B-flat bell section with F attachment. Trombone manufacturers ordinarily do not sell "single" B-flat bell sections and bell sections with F attachment individually, although both types of trombones of a particular model usually have identical slide sections.
Usually, a professional trombonist does not know in advance which type of instrument (i.e., "single" or with F attachment) he will need to play when he appears to perform for a particular engagement. Therefore, he may choose to carry two complete trombones, each in its own separate case. Most standard trombone cases are rather large and bulky. It is a great inconvenience to a trombone player to have to carry two such cases. Although various multiple compartment cases for musical instruments are known, as indicated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,188,927; 1,988,718; 2,792,932; and 3,048,262, no suitable case has been proposed which provides any solution whatever to the above-described problem of professional trombone players. Another problem with conventional trombone cases is that condensed water normally collects in the slide section, and frequently some of it drains from the open ends of the slide section into the interior of the case.
It is clear that there remains an unmet need for a single compact trombone case capable of carrying all of the trombone components required by a professional trombonist to enable him to perform on either a "single" or F attachment trombone. There is also an unmet need for a trombone case that alleviates some of the other irritations that professional trombone players endure, such as spillage of condensed water into the interior of standard trombone cases.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a single compact trombone case capable of carrying all of the trombone components necessary to enable a trombonist to perform with either a "single" or an F attachment trombone.
It is another object of the invention to provide a trombone case which avoids the problem of spillage of water that has collected in the slide section.